| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from Letters of Two Brides by Honore de Balzac: Blois folk say. I shall see whether a child, as the saying goes,
spoils the pattern.
P. S.--If you deign to reply from your maternal heights, address to
Chantepleurs. I am just off.
XXXIII
MME. DE L'ESTORADE TO MME. DE MACUMER
My child,--If ever you become a mother, you will find out that it is
impossible to write letters during the first two months of your
nursing. Mary, my English nurse, and I are both quite knocked up. It
is true I had not told you that I was determined to do everything
myself. Before the event I had with my own fingers sewn the baby
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The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Ball at Sceaux by Honore de Balzac: child, would worthily crown the career the Count had followed for
these ten years at Paris. From the way in which his family claimed
salaries under every department, it might be compared with the House
of Austria, which, by intermarriage, threatens to pervade Europe. The
old Vendeen was not to be discouraged in bringing forward suitors, so
much had he his daughter's happiness at heart, but nothing could be
more absurd than the way in which the impertinent young thing
pronounced her verdicts and judged the merits of her adorers. It might
have been supposed that, like a princess in the Arabian Nights, Emilie
was rich enough and beautiful enough to choose from among all the
princes in the world. Her objections were each more preposterous than
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